Arthur Edwards says Prince William gave a plain answer for the Prince William and Kate Middleton 2007 split: “Because I wanted to be sure.” Edwards said he asked the question after the couple’s 2010 engagement announcement, and William added, “Because I want this marriage to last forever.”
The royal photographer, who said he has spent five decades photographing the British royal family, recalled the exchange on HELLO!’s A Right Royal Podcast. His account adds a direct explanation from William for a breakup that came after years together and ended a few months before they got back together.
University of St. Andrews in Scotland in 2001
William and Kate first met as students at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in 2001. They became friends before beginning a romantic relationship, then split after approximately five years together in 2007.
Edwards said the breakup happened during a 30-minute phone conversation. He also said he later spotted William and Kate having a deep conversation at the Concert for Diana that summer, before they reconciled a few months later.
William and Kate in November 2010
The couple addressed the separation in their ITV engagement interview in November 2010. William said, “We were both very young, it was at university, we were both finding ourselves as such and being different characters and stuff,” and added, “It was a bit of space and a bit of things like that, and it worked out for the better.”
Kate said, “I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you're younger, and I really valued that time for me, as well,” while William and Kate announced their engagement that same month. They married at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011, and now share three children.
The later explanation gives the 2007 split a narrower reading than a permanent break: a short separation inside a long relationship that led to marriage, and to William’s own description that he wanted the relationship to last forever.
